Pages

Friday, May 30, 2014

Go, Go Lil Lovebird! Nia's Razor Jr. Kuties Unicorn Scooter

Disclosure: I received a Razor Jr. Kuties Unicorn Scooter for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own.

Our first spring in Jersey City two years ago Nia developed a certain obsession with scooters: whenever we were at the playground she would try to take over any temporarily abandoned scooter while the owner was running around or playing on the jungle gym. She was definitely too little to use one at the time, but her obsession didn't stop.

I took quite a few pictures of her "meeting" her new unicorn scooter - she was petting it so frantically they came out blurry!

While at Toy Fair this year I stopped by the Razor booth then met them again at TPPM's Spring Showcase. I was excited to see their full line of scooters and now with Nia nearly 4 years old, she's the perfect age for Razor's Jr. Kuties line which currently retails for about $40 at Target and has an age minimum of 3 years and weight max of 44 lbs. (Nia's 41 lbs). While I had images of Nia attempting to scoot around super fast as I see older kids do around the city, I quickly learned that the 3-wheel configuration of Razor Jr. allows for younger kids to better maneuver vs. their traditional 2-wheel scooter which is more appropriate for older kids.

Nia was thrilled when her Kuties Unicorn Scooter arrived and begged to take it out immediately. We compromised and she practiced in our apartment building's hallway several days with her dad before taking it outside (I posted this Instagram sneak peek of her in the elevator on her way out to test it!).

Here's a quick video of Nia's first time outdoors with her Razor:

Somehow she convinced me she could scoot all the way to school (it's usually a 15 minute walk). Let's just say we won't be doing that again anytime soon, and once we finnnnnnnally made it to school she even agreed it wasn't a good idea! We've had the scooter about two weeks now, and she still needs quite a bit of practice maneuvering - something she should get lots of time doing this summer when we head out and about.

I know once Nia gets a bit more practice she'll literally be flying, and I'm happy to share my favorite features:

The safety of having 3 wheels

Double function - with the removable hobby horse Nia likes to use it for pretend play when she's not scooting

Lightweight - I was concerned about this especially during the walk to school; it was easy enough for me to pick it up and carry it when she wasn't able to scoot

Here's what I'd change:

Make it easier to put together - there was one particular bolt that drove both me and Mr. Lovebird crazy! We each took turns trying to put it in place and after his second attempt he finally was able to do it, but boy did we work up a sweat!

Stabilize the hobby horse - perhaps because Nia is Type A like me while riding she wanted the horse's head to remain positioned perfectly the front, but it kept turning; she'd stop every time to reposition it. If there was a way to keep it front and center that'd be great (or if we were just a bit less Type A!)

Make it foldable - while I'm thankful that the Razor Jr. Kutie's lightweight, I'm envious of the Razors that fold. It just seems so convenient! When Nia gets older we'll upgrade to a foldable one for sure

And a few thoughts on safety: I make Nia wear a helmet when she scoots outdoors; she has to dismount when crossing the street with me (I hold her hand and carry the scooter in the other); on the playground she is not allowed to scoot around the play space - this is one of the rules of our local park, but I often see it broken and as a result she wants to break it too. Overall, we're very pleased with the Razor Jr. Kuties Unicorn Scooter. I'll have to do a mini-update at the end of the summer to show her improvement with maneuvering!Have your kids tried a scooter? Or even you? I see quite a few adults scooting around the city!